


"For Ferelden!"

by Coconut_of_Doom



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Darkspawn, Fantasy, Fear, Fear of Death, Gaming, Gen, Good and Evil, One Shot, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24850306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coconut_of_Doom/pseuds/Coconut_of_Doom
Summary: The Battle of Ostagar has come, and for one soldier in particular, so has death.
Kudos: 1





	"For Ferelden!"

**Author's Note:**

> Heads-up, this story follows the format of my previous dramatic fics. One sentence per line. It went on a little bit longer than I had hoped but, hey, gotta make it look great. :P

He watched in deep dread as the sky darkened.

The dark night sky fell tainted with a red hue and a terrible lightning storm clashing with the clouds above, sending tremors through the sound barrier and frightening the less experienced of the army.

Beyond them was the battlefield, a large expanse of grassland below an ancient fortress.

Their barricades and towers overlooked it all.

Archers sat above, setting the tips of their arrows aflame and watching carefully for any signs of the enemy.

Red sparkles amidst the incoming horde, and an equally crimson mist accompanied their approach.

He gulped and cast his eyes to the ground below, afraid to even look at what was coming for them all.

Up above on the ramparts a Grey Warden named Duncan and the brave King Cailan discussed the coming battle between themselves, and their words were lost upon the soldier.

At the moment, he didn't particularly care.

He had bigger problems.

Before him was a large battlefield, and behind him a vast army of men and women.

Knights, warriors, soldiers, mercenaries, Chasind, Ash Warriors, mages, templars, Grey Wardens, and more comprised the main body of this great army.

All willing to take a stand against the Blight before it could begin in truth.

All willing to die for their friends and families back home.

All staring down Death across a vast field.

This man was a soldier of Ferelden, serving under the Arl Urien Kendells.

Bearing a suit of splintmail, a sharp silverite sword, and a sturdy steel shield bearing the crest of the Kendells family.

He looked ready to face what was coming, but in actuality, he couldn't be more afraid for his own life.

He was young, with ruffled black hair that was ruined by his own helmet.

But the darkspawn didn't care how young their victims were.

They killed and massacred any and all who stood before them.

He knew he would be no different.

The chanters walked in between the ranks of soldiers, spreading prayers and sanctifying their lives for the coming confrontation.

Men whispered.

Men silently prayed.

Dogs barked.

Officers gave orders.

Priests offered their best wishes.

But despite it all, it seemed eerily quiet.

The calm before the storm.

The soldier looked up, and there was the king.

Clad in his golden plated armor, standing around his most trusted knights.

They were watching now.

Watching and waiting.

Waiting for the coming enemy.

The soldier sighed, and he closed his eyes.

Thinking of his family back in the capital city of Denerim.

His noble mother.

His business owning father.

His loyal bride-to-be.

All waiting for him to return a hero from this historic battle.

They didn't want him to go, but he had orders from the Arl.

He couldn't refuse.

King Cailan needed every able bodied man and woman ready for war.

Earlier today, he was eager. He had never fought in a real battle before.

He was excited.

He felt ready.

He boasted to his friends that the battle would be his proving.

But now?

He was scared.

The bravery he had since faded in the face of actual danger.

Of actual monsters.

Of those spawned by those the Maker cast away from his Golden City.

Death was looming over the field.

Over every man and woman in the army.

The current Grey Warden presence inspired some confidence in the soldiers, but not this one.

His morale was unhinged.

His mind ran rampant with every possible scenario of the coming engagement.

His hands shook.

The soldier next to him noticed, and he placed a calming hand on the shaking soldier's shoulder.

"We'll be victorious, friend." He said. "The Maker is on our side."

But was he really?

Did the Maker really care about the lives of the men and women on this field?

If He did, would He have created the darkspawn in the first place?

Would He have cast away His faith in the people of Thedas?

These were the kinds of questions that ran around in his mind.

It shattered his faith in the blessings the priests and chanters were offering.

Broke the very idea they had holy protection.

The soldier just looked at him, and said "Believe it if you must, but we all know why we're here. It was the Maker's doing that brought….them….upon our people. It is the Maker's demons we must fight tonight."

And he was right.

His comrade knew it.

Demons they were in only a figurative sense, since they didn't possess a connection to the Fade.

But demons to mankind's existence they were nonetheless.

His friend lowered his arm, and cast his suddenly worried stare to the ground.

His confidence was shaken.

Just like the black haired soldier.

Then, they appeared.

Like a thief in the dark, dark night.

Like an angel of death come for the reckoning.

The orders stopped.

The chanters silenced.

The murmuring ended.

The barking ceased.

For the treeline at the far end of the field darkened on their emergence.

First came one, clad in barbaric darkspawn armor.

He was a leader, and he stopped upon sighting the human army that stood in his path.

Then the rest followed.

It was as if they were whispering among themselves.

Whispering their demonic need to destroy all in their path.

But they were indeed silent.

A silent monstrous army approaching like a magnet to the congregation of soldiers and warriors.

A magnet of death and destruction.

Of taint and evil.

They stood at the forefront of the trees leading into the wilderness beyond.

Hurlocks, genlocks, and ogres too.

Monsters is what they were.

And suddenly, the soldier felt totally and completely shattered.

The darkspawn have arrived.

The battle was nigh.

Everything was silent.

The chanters and the priests were frantic in fleeing, their role no longer needed.

They needed to flee to a safe area.

The soldier wished he could do the same.

His shaking grew exponentially, and he tried to breath but couldn't find any air.

His lips grew cold and dry, and soon his throat did too.

The air around him felt stale, and suddenly his thoughts evaporated.

He felt a knot in his gut, and he backed away from his spot in the frontline.

The soldier behind him stopped him, shoving him forward back to his spot.

"No turning back now, fella." She said, her voice betraying a small hint of fear. "Today we fight, or today we die."

She was scared too.

Everyone was.

The horde was before them.

Death was no longer looming, instead it had arrived in the form of a legion of darkspawn.

But still everyone stood stalwart, ready to defend their homes.

Their families.

Their friends.

Their very lives.

The soldier stood at the front, shaking as he watched the darkspawn stare back.

But suddenly something occurred within them, and they began their charge.

The army could hear them from the distance they were at.

The rumbling of their armored feet upon the dirt.

The horrible, inhuman screams they emitted.

The roars for blood.

The cries for their deaths.

The bloodlust was in their evil, evil eyes.

They were hungry to spill the blood before them.

They humans merely stood there, awaiting their orders on what to do.

All the while the soldier shook in his boots, quaking and trembling.

He gulped down stale air, and he felt his blood boil within his veins.

The moment had come.

They were sprinting ahead of themselves, weapons raised high as could be.

And all the army could do at the moment was watch.

"Archers!" King Cailan shouted.

The archers readied their arrows, setting the tips ablaze as their commander strode to the very front.

They took aim, and their commander raised his arm to the sky.

For a moment all they could hear were the darkspawn approaching fast.

The blood curdling screams.

The mabari hounds growling.

The soldier looked at his sword, and feelings of cowardice began to spring up in his mind.

He began to sweat uncontrollably, and his trembling began to worsen as he wiped his brow with a gloved hand.

Suddenly, the commander let his arm fall, and the archers loosed their arrows upon the approaching legion of darkspawn.

The arrows soared through the air, flying like eagles in flight.

They reached their peak, and descended upon the horde itself.

All the soldier could see was a bloody sea.

Blood spurted into the air from wounded darkspawn.

They screamed, shouted, like banshees in the night.

Some fell to the ground to be trampled upon by their brethren behind them.

If the arrows didn't kill them, their comrades most certainly finished them off.

Some kept going strong, even with arrows sticking out of their shoulders, chests, and arms.

The bloody mist concealed their approach for a moment, and then it looked as if they were gone entirely.

Until they broke through the bloody fog, unbroken and uncaring for their fallen brothers.

"Hounds!" King Cailan ordered.

The houndmaster thus unleashed his horde of mabaris upon the darkspawn.

They charged as fast as their four legs could carry them, barking and growling all the while.

They met with the darkspawn in a vicious skirmish.

They pounced upon the frontline darkspawn, mauling them into oblivion.

They tore through their bones, their rotten flesh, their tainted veins, gnawing on their faces like chew toys.

The darkspawn screeched and howled as they combatted the animals, fighting them to the very last in a pitched skirmish that none would escape from.

It was a suicide mission for the poor dogs, but the army needed every advantage they could get against the horrid creatures.

The last dog disappeared into the horde, and now it was the army's turn.

King Cailan closed his eyes and let out a deep breath before looking to his army.

He drew his sword, and pointed towards the enemy with a determined glare.

"For Ferelden!"

The army shouted all in unison, mages and templars stood together, warriors and rogues united against a common enemy, Chasind and knights shouted together as one.

All gathered their courage and bellowed at the top of their lungs, raising their weapons and forging ahead on their feet to engage the enemy.

But the black haired soldier didn't.

He remained still, watching as his comrades and countrymen ran ahead of him.

Screaming their bravery at the top of their lungs.

One bumped into him, sending him stumbling as the army surged forth onto the field of battle.

He looked up, and watched as those braver than him forged on.

Uncaring of their own lives.

Determined to fight regardless of the cost.

King Cailan jumped from the battlements and landed on his feet with a heavy thud, and he too joined the clamoring army with his own bravado.

Each man knew they could die today.

But they willingly offered to sacrifice it all to stem the tide before it overran the world.

The black haired soldier couldn't turn around now.

Despite his crippling fear, he knew he was either going home with his shield, or going home upon it.

There was no retreat.

There were no exceptions.

He had to fight.

He took in a deep breath, and raised his sword arm to the sky.

Gathering what little courage he had remaining, he echoed King Cailain's words and joined his comrades in their charge.

His blood was warm.

His eyes were strained.

His body was trembling.

His mind was jumbled.

But he pressed forth anyways, knowing that tonight he would do his part for Ferelden.

"For Ferelden!"

**Author's Note:**

> Be sure to check out my other Dragon Age fic, The High Road. It's currently in revision by a good friend of mine because I wasn't exactly happy with how the chapters look. Right now, only chapters 1 and 2 have been revised, the rest will follow at a consistent basis by the end of the coming week. Like it, don't like it, it's an interesting read and an interesting story regardless that'll definitely raise some brows as it goes on. :D
> 
> Thank you for reading "For Ferelden!".


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